What if I want to replace solid stain with a semi-transparent?

Question

Currently, my deck has a McCluskey solid stain on it. It has not been fully reliable; winters leave holes in it. Now that Lowe's stocks the Consumer Reports top-rated stain (Cabot), I want to replace it. Also, I recently read a deck professional's online recommendations, which stated firmly to NOT use a solid stain but rather semi-transparent. But what if there already *is* a solid stain on the deck? After trying three different types of strippers, as well as having had the deck pressure-washed, I have managed to remove maybe half of the deck floor stain, and much less than half of the stain on other parts of the deck (e.g. rails). Another handyman told me that I had "no chance" of removing the stain on the parts of the deck that weren't weather-exposed. One person at Lowe's talked about using a power sander (which I don't have), but didn't make that sound too hopeful either. Am I stuck with solid stain forever (or at least until I replace the whole deck)? With the McCluskey?

Answer 1

Solid stain is just one step down from oil-based paint, with the main difference being it is thinner and the pigment penetrates the wood deeper. Generally, if it doesn`t weather out, or isn`t sanded down to new wood, it is there for good. Try one thing though, before you give up. Talk to pros at Lowe`s and Home Depot and see if it can be bleached. I can`t make a recommendation on this, as I`ve always just power sanded. If you do sand, being a deck, don`t take too much off.

Answer 2

Since it is a stain, it has soaked into the wood. It is going to take some work to get it off. You will have to mechanically remove it. Even then, I'm not so sure that you can remove all of it, but you should be able to remove enough to use the new stain and have it look pretty decent.

Try and remove as much as you can with the power equipment.

Answer 3

I guess you dyed it darker? As the other person said you might need to use two boxes of dye on your hair. Also, you need to comb the dye through your hair, first with a wide-toothed comb and then with a regular comb. Once you've combed it through then put more dye on it. You need to get lots and lots of dye on it and you need to make sure every single hair is saturated. Dye boxes don't tell you to comb it through but you REALLY need to or you could get streaks. Also, dye fades, especially if you use regular shampoo. You can buy shampoos and conditioner for "color treated" hair that will make the dye last longer but it will still fade at some point. Oh, and if you use products (mousse, gel, pomade etc.) with alcohol in them that will fade your hair faster too.

Answer 4

stain the part that is cleaned off, you will have to wait till the solid stain wears off,